Performance of Parabolic Concentrated Solar Cooker used for Cooking Oil in Bauchi-Nigeria

Abstract

Rural communities in sub Saharan Africa spent considerable time and energy in their quest for obtaining cooking requirements. The utilization of solar energy for cooking is not a widespread practice despite of the fact that African countries are having abundant solar resources. Solar cooker uses the freely, environmentally friendly, healthy and renewable solar energy resources as its energy source, thus indicating its economical and sustainability advantages. The paper demonstrated the possibility of using solar energy as an alternative to the traditional system of cooking local food stuffs in rural communities of North-East Nigeria. The cooker was designed and fitted with a black pot and an automatic tracking mechanisms which track the sun at 10 per hour of the sun movement for use in tropical dry climates. Parboiled rice of 1kg each was cooked completely in 75 minutes at an average solar beam radiation of 623W/m2 after attaining maximum temperature of 368K under clear weather condition. Whereas 1kg of beans and 1.1kg of yam were cooked in 90 minutes at an average solar beam radiation of 536.5W/m2 and 430.1 W/m2 respectively. The highest temperature reached for this test was 368K. The results indicated that parabolic solar cooker can comfortably cooked these varieties of Nigerian local dishes within the range of 75 minutes to 90 minutes under the clear weather condition of Bauchi, north–east of Nigeria.